After NC State clinched a series victory over UNC last night in Baseball, I thought it would be a good time to relish in how the Wolfpack has dominated the Tar Heels Athletic Program as a whole in 2023-24.
The Wolfpack Baseball team has won the first two games in the series against the Tar Heels, clinching a series victory over UNC for the first time since 2021. It marks the first time NC State has won a series against the Tar Heels in Raleigh since 2016.
NC State defeated UNC in Volleyball 3-1, winning in Chapel Hill for the first time in 25 years. The Tar Heels had won the last 5 matches against the Wolfpack.
The Wolfpack defeated the Tar Heels 39-20 in Football in Carter-Finley Stadium. It marked the 3rd consecutive win over UNC.
NC State lost both regular season games to UNC in Men’s Basketball, but when it mattered most, the Wolfpack defeated the Tar Heels in the ACC Championship Game 84-76, winning their first title since 1987.
The Wolfpack Women’s Basketball team lost to their rival in Chapel Hill, but defeated UNC 63-59 in Reynolds Coliseum. NC State has won 5 of the last 7 against UNC.
In Gymnastics, NC State defeated UNC 196.725-194.925 in Raleigh. This marked the 3rd straight victory for the Wolfpack over the Tar Heels.
NC State’s Men & Women’s Swimming & Diving teams both beat UNC. The Men won 258-93, and the Women won 196-157.
The Wolfpack Wrestling team defeated UNC 33-6 in Reynolds Coliseum. NC State has won 11 straight Duals against the Tar Heels.
The NC State Men’s Tennis team defeated UNC 4-0, winning against their rival in back-to-back years.
The Wolfpack Women’s Tennis team has defeated the Tar Heels 4-3 on two occasions thus far this season, and will face their rival again today.
The Cross Country teams didn’t have individual meets against UNC, but the Women obviously beat them, because they won the ACC Championship. The Men didn’t, finishing 8th in the Conference, with the Tar Heels finishing 1st.
The only other NC State athletic team that didn’t taste victory against UNC this year was the Women’s Soccer team, losing 0-4 in Raleigh.
Of course, each of these NC State athletic teams has much higher goals than just beating their rival, but there’s no denying how sweet it is to beat the Tar Heels.
Henderson was denied sixth year. What has happen to Markell, staying or going?
That’s too bad. Haven’t heard much about Markell lately so maybe that’s a good sign. He’s the starter this season so not sure why he wouldn’t return quite honestly.
Worst case scenario involving losses of Henderson and Markell means that this is our lineup:
PG – Batts
SG – A. Freeman/Newman
SF – Dorn/Kirk
PF – Abu/Hicks
C – Yurt7/Freeman
Like to know if A. Freeman or Newman have enough ball handling to play backup at PG? If Markell stays then we should be solid at PG.
Newman, really? Sounds like Southern conference basketball to me.
Sorry, Colonial Athletic Association basketball.
He’s a good shooter. Just need to get him to a passable level on defense and get him open looks on offense. We can sit him in the corner and have him run baseline to baseline for open looks out of the post or dribble penetration. I don’t see him playing a ton of minutes but 8-10 minutes in an up tempo offense is feasible.
If we look at the 1-3 postions… even if Henderson doesn’t get extra year and we lose Markell, we start a freshman at PG and we have several wings.
Leaving: Smith Jr (PG), Rowan (SG/SF), Henderson (SG)?
Returning: Dorn (SG/SF), Newman (SG), Kirk (SF), Markell (PG)?
New additions: Batts (PG), A. Freeman (SG)
If you look at the roster even if Freeman is not 100% we appear to be ok in the front court.
Bigs leaving: Anya, Kapita
Bigs returning: Yurt7, Freeman, Hicks, Abu
I think Yurt7 made the right move. His freshman season exposed his weaknesses. He needs to work on his strength and physicality. How does he fit into new uptempo offense? This will be a good measure of Keatt’s coaching ability. I want to see how he incorporates a 7 foot center into that offense.
Can we just no show for every game next year?
We’ll just have to play small ball all season. It’s not like we haven’t had to before. Honestly, I can’t even remember the last time we had a solid true center (maybe Todd Fuller). Every decent center I can think of the last 10 seasons or more were playing out of position. CJL, Ron Kelly, Hickson, Simmons, Powell, …
Looks like Kapita is signing with an agent. He didn’t even get invited to the combine. Guess he has money troubles or something.
Probably academic problems too.
That’s the part I can’t understand. I mean every one of these kids has access to tutors. It’s practically impossible to fail. And if they are so stupid that they can’t pass freshman classes with tutoring then they shouldn’t be in school in the 1st place.
I agree 100%. Let them go to D league or overseas. Stop the chaos in the college.
Now Kapita is testing the NBA waters. Coach Keatts let’s sign some bigs as insurance. There was a time when kids enjoyed college life. What’s not to like… girls, parties, fame, and playing the game you love. Crazy how so many want to leave after a year when the chances of making it in the NBA are so slim. Obviously statistics classes should be mandatory for FB and BB players.
We need bodies at the 2 & 3 positions so this is good. Hard to beat senior level experience. I’m really interested to see the results of the next season. Gott set the bar low at 4 ACC wins so I would assume Keatts can manage to beat that by at least a game or two.
So you are basically saying that we should not watch NC State basketball next year. I am tired of 4 to 6 wins in the ACC.
If you think change will happen over 1 season I don’t know what to tell you. We can sort of assume that Keatts will be an improvement based on his history with UNCW but I doubt he’s a miracle worker. I’ll judge him fully when he has his own guys. He has to implement his system, change the culture, and bring in guys that can play his style. It will take time.
I have to disagree. His players have never beaten a Power Five school. He must raise his own standard to win in the ACC. I don’t believe he is the right coach for State. I’m also hoping that I am wrong on this.
Well he wasn’t my 1st choice either but what’s done is done. In his defense, he wasn’t exactly recruiting ACC caliber players at UNCW. So to me his recruiting class for next season will be telling. If we can at minimum keep the recruiting at a similar level and up the coaching then that alone will equal more wins. How many more wins? Let’s wait and see.
I ask myself how do I like Keatts compared to the hires of Sendek, Lowe, and Gottfried? And I think the answer for me is that I like him better than all those guys. Is he the one that will lead us to the promised land? We have at least 4 seasons to see.
His players, at the before-he-got-there cellar dwellers, have never beaten a p5 school, though have come close on several occasions, with little talent, means that he is a crappy coach and will do nothing at State. Gotcha. Go pull for another team please. I think a guy that went 262-17 and won 2 National Championships at Hargrave, while having to recruit a new team every year, can get the job done
Hey let’s not act like success at one level guarantees success at another. Plenty of good college coaches have flamed out in the nba and visa versa. The fact is Keatts does not have power 5 head coaching experience so to say he will do this or that is premature. We have him for at least 4 seasons so let’s give him time and pray that he does better than his predecessor.